After over 65 years of ministry, we have developed the top 27 questions people ask us so we would like to share these questions each week for our weekly blog and share the answers as a resource for you all to use in your ministry, churches, and family.

Top ? #6 Will Christians Go Through the Tribulation?

Answer:  No, Christians will be taken out of the world to be with Jesus Christ in heaven before the period known as the Tribulation begins.

The Bible speaks in many places of a time in which there will be great suffering on the earth, more than has existed since the beginning of time.  This period of tribulation is mentioned in the Old Testament by almost all of the prophets, particularly by Daniel and Jeremiah.  The Lord Jesus gave a detailed description of this time as recorded in Matthew 24-25.  The most complete account of the tribulation period is found in the last book of the Bible, Revelation.  In these passages we can read that believers in Jesus Christ will be severely persecuted, many losing their lives as martyrs.  Therefore, many believers today wonder if it is possible they will need to pass through those seven horrible years.

To know why Christians alive today do not have to fear going through the tribulation one must understand the nature of God’s people for this age which is called the Body of Christ.

In the Old Testament God established a unique relationship with one particular group of people, the nation of Israel, the Jews.  Almost all of the Old Testament describes God’s dealings with them.  God made many promises to Israel and vowed to be faithful to fulfill them.  God also gave the prophets hundreds of prophecies that describe Israel’s future.  These included prophecies about the first coming of a savior or messiah that would come to save the nation from its sin and then return a second time to deliver the people from their enemies.  The prophecies of the first coming of the Messiah were fulfilled in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Between the first and second coming the Bible speaks of a period of seven years in which the nation of Israel will be tested to determine the sincerity of those that claim to have faith in Jesus Christ.  This prophetic timeline was interrupted, however, when the nation of Israel rejected the gospel as it was being preached by the Apostles after Christ’s ascension to heaven.

Because the Jews rejected the good news of Jesus, God made it possible for all people to be saved through the gospel of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.  He began a new program called the Body of Christ, which had never been written about by the Old Testament prophets or even the Lord Jesus Christ while he was on earth.  He made one man, the Apostle Paul, to be the messenger of this new revelation.  In his writings, Paul describes the Body of Christ as a “mystery which was kept secret since the world began” (Romans 16:25).  In 1 Thessalonians 4-5, Paul describes how the Body of Christ will be taken out of the world when Jesus Christ appears in the air.  The dead Christians since the beginning of the Body of Christ will be resurrected and those alive at that time will receive new bodies.  Paul says that we (members of the Body of Christ) are not appointed to “suffer wrath” (1 Thessalonians 5:9), another name for the tribulation period.  God promised to fulfill his promises and prophesies regarding Israel after the Body of Christ has been removed. (Romans 11:25-27)

Therefore, all people that have put their faith in the death of Jesus Christ since the beginning of the Body of Christ will not go through the seven years of tribulation but will be taken away to be with the Lord before it begins.

Please read the following verses:  1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11; 1 Corinthians 15:50-56; Philippians 3:20-21; Titus 2:13-14; Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15-25; Revelation 6:15-17.

if you want to enroll in our Free Bible Correspondence course, just email us your full name, address and we will mail you a copy! dwight@prisonmission.org 

God bless you

Pastor Dwight Anderson